Soccer legend and SABC sports commentator Marks Mafa Maponyane has allegedly dumped his conjugal duties, leaving his wife celibate for four years.
The details about allegations of s$x starvation emerged during a recent assault case which was opened by Sylvia, Maponyane's wife, at the Midrand police station last month.
The case also left Maponyane fuming and he allegedly accused police officers at the station of arresting him so they could sleep with his wife while he was in custody.
Midrand police station commander Leshoka Mahloromela confirmed receiving a report from one of his officers who arrested Maponyane.
The officer alleged that Maponyane accused them of sleeping with his wife.
Mahloromela said the officers made the allegations in a report that also details allegations of interference by a high-ranking police official to get the case squashed.
The station boss said his officer said Maponyane spoke in Setswana and said: "Ke a tseba gore le nyaka go nyoba mosadi waka, that's why le nyaka go ntshwara gore ke robale diseleng weekend ka moka."
The alleged statement by Maponyane, loosely translated, means "I know you want to sleep with my wife, that is why you want me to sleep in the police cells all weekend."
However, the station commander said upon investigating Maponyane's allegations, the former Kaizer Chiefs goal poacher revealed that he only asked his wife if the person who had called him was a genuine police officer or one of her boyfriends.
On the assault allegations brought by his wife, the station commander said Maponyane admitted to moering his wife but said he did so because she was nagging him and was also blocking him from leaving the house to go to work in Durban.
The police said Maponyane claimed that he only pushed her and she fell to the floor after an argument.
Maponyane said: "I'm not going to respond to this s**t. I don't want anything to do with this s**t because I don't remember accusing anyone of anything."
Shockingly, the wife also alleged to police that Maponyane had not touched her in bed in four years, claiming that all she has been receiving from him was constant abuse.
The police chief said that the former soccer player refused to speak about the s$x starvation allegations, stating that he won't speak to the police officers about his family matters.
Maponyane was also quizzed about a police chaplain who called the arresting officer asking him to drop the case.
The station commander said the officer reported that the chaplain told him Maponyane wanted to deal with the matter in a spiritual way.
Mahloromela said the officer refused to drop the case and instead opted to interrogate Maponyane about the matter because his wife had told him that she had previously opened cases against him but they had all come to nothing.
The station commander said during the interrogation about the allegation to squash the case, Maponyane admitted that he had contacted a lot of people asking them to help him with the case.
"He said he spoke to his pastor. He admitted that he had sent the officer's contact details to one of the police chaplains so he could help him to deal with the matter spiritually," said Mahloromela.
Maponyane's wife told Sunday World that her husband lied to the police about the whole case so he could get bail.
"I never stood in his way and blocked him from leaving the house. We had an argument because I asked him why he was embarrassing himself out there. That's because I have been receiving calls from one of his girlfriends asking me why am I still in this marriage because he has nothing to offer in bed. I only asked him why he was going around exposing our family secrets to his girlfriends, and he called me names and assaulted me with a coat hanger," she said.
Sylvia said during the argument Maponyane also accused her of sleeping around with police officers and ordered her to go sleep with them instead of accusing him of going to see young girls.
She denied having relationships with police officers and said her husband was shifting the goal posts.
She refused to comment about specific s$x starvation allegations. "All I can say is that I haven't seen a man in four years," she said.
One of the arresting officers confirmed he was accused by Maponyane of sleeping with his wife, but he denied the allegation, saying the soccer legend just wanted an excuse not to be arrested.
"I reported the matter to the station commander and he is better placed to comment. All I can say is that I was just doing my job," he said.
According to a police statement, Sylvia sustained an injury above her left eye where she had just undergone surgery.
"The complainant had a visible injury on the left eye and she has alleged that she was assaulted with a coat hanger over the argument," reads the statement.
